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Electrical

Have you ever wondered why boaters wear polarized sunglasses? It’s because sunlight reflecting off the water is primarily polarized in one direction, and polarized sunglasses will block this component of the reflected light, thus reducing glare. To understand why this is, we can use COMSOL software. This example solves the governing Maxwell’s equations using the RF Module or Wave Optics Module to simulate light incident at an angle upon a dielectric medium, and the solution shows agreement with analytic solutions.

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Being able to compute the spatial gradients of the magnetic field or magnetic flux density is needed in areas such as radiology, magnetophoresis, and geophysics. One of the most important applications is in the design of magnetic resonance imaging machines, where it’s important to analyze not only the field strength, but also the spatial variation of the field. Today’s blog will demonstrate how to compute and plot the gradients of the magnetic field in 3D electromagnetic simulations in COMSOL Multiphysics.

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Submarines can be detected by enemy weapon systems due to their magnetic signatures. By designing vessels with reduced magnetic signatures, detection can be avoided, but the composition and size of most submarines often make simulation difficult. COMSOL software helps you overcome this problem.

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The direct and inverse piezoelectric effects are strongly related to how anisotropic the material is, which in turn is related to the crystalline structure of the piezoelectric material. The extent of anisotropy can also be influenced by a process called poling. Here, I’ll discuss how you can correctly model the crystal orientation and poling direction of a piezoelectric material in your COMSOL simulations.

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We often want to model an electromagnetic wave (light, microwaves) incident upon periodic structures, such as diffraction gratings, metamaterials, or frequency selective surfaces. This can be done using the RF or Wave Optics modules from the COMSOL product suite. Both modules provide Floquet periodic boundary conditions and periodic ports and compute the reflected and transmitted diffraction orders as a function of incident angles and wavelength. This blog post introduces the concepts behind this type of analysis and walks through the […]

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An RF MEMS switch is an electromechanical component found in RF systems. It usually consists of a micromechanical bridge or cantilever, a substrate, and an electrode or dielectric layer. These devices can switch at RF frequencies and tend to have high isolation, i.e. power loss when the switch turns off; low insertion loss (loss of signal power when the switch is on), and extremely low (almost zero!) power consumption. Let’s take a look at how you can use COMSOL Multiphysics […]

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Before conducting certain blood sample analyses, researchers need to separate the red blood cell particles from the blood plasma. Using lab-on-a-chip (LOC) technology, red blood cell separation can be achieved via magnetophoresis, i.e. motion induced by magnetic fields. Since the magnetic permeability of the particles is different from the blood plasma, their trajectory can be controlled within the flow channel of the LOC device and thereby separated out from the fluid.

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I recently had the pleasure of preparing a small contribution to the 166th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (Fall 2013) together with Wade Conklin and Jordan Schultz from Knowles Electronics. Wade presented our paper entitled “Characterization of a microelectromechanical microphone using the finite element method”. The work consisted of implementing a virtual prototype of a Knowles MEMS microphone (the SPU0409LE5H microphone, see picture below) using COMSOL Multiphysics.

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Not too long ago, my colleague Jennifer wrote a blog post about the Cross Cancer Institute, and the research being conducted there into the design of a new device for treating cancerous tumors. The device, known as the Linac-MR, is revolutionary due to its ability to both image and treat cancer cells simultaneously — a capability that had previously been regarded as near impossible due to the conflicting physics interactions involved. Such a device would allow for extremely precise radiation […]

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During snow storms or windy days, a branch might break and short-circuit a power line’s electric current as it falls. The first task of a recloser is to interrupt this short-circuit, i.e. to open or disconnect the affected overhead line from the feeding network source. The second task is to try to re-establish power after a short time by to re-closing the line, taking advantage of the fact that most of the reasons for a short-circuit of an overhead line […]

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Microwave plasmas, or wave-heated discharges, find applications in many industrial areas such as semiconductor processing, surface treatment, and the abatement of hazardous gases. This blog post describes the theoretical basis of the Microwave Plasma interface available in the Plasma Module.